Story Of An Hour Literary Analysis Essay

Matrimony can be the single most beautiful thing in the world, but what if I told you that it could be a trap waiting to ensnare its victims? The concept of an unhealthy marriage is defined in Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” to convey the idea that what might look right to us, could quite possibly be fabricated to give the idea a good name. Through Chopin’s use of point-of-view, characterization, and symbol, Chopin communicates the idea that what mainstream society stresses as a necessity to get married is the actuality that the entire concept marriage is like an inescapable black hole. When reading a story, the point-of-view makes the biggest difference in how the reader comprehends the true meaning of the work. Chopin’s “The Story …show more content…
Because the short story is told in third-person limited, the issue of finding a protagonist seems problematic to assess due to the lack of “I’s,” but without a doubt the main protagonist would be Mrs. Mallard. It is almost apparent that Mrs. Mallard is the primary protagonist because she has a goal, to be free from her husband, that ignites her heart and soul in a defining moment in her life. What is just as important as the protagonist is the antagonist(s) that try to upset the ambitions of Mrs. Mallard. There is some dispute as to who acts as the antagonist(s) in “The Story of an Hour,” but one primary antagonist that is noticeable is Brently, who poses a threat to Mrs. Mallard’s yearning for freedom. Chopin shows that Brently has some part in upsetting Mrs. Mallard’s dream when she states:
“[t]here would be no one to live for during these coming years; she would live for herself. There would be no powerful will bending hers in that blind persistence with which men and women believe they have a right to impose a private will upon a fellow-creature. A kind intention or a cruel intention or a cruel intention made the act seem no less a crime as she looked upon it in that brief moment of illumination”